1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an IC card reader designed to read data from an IC card, and more particularly to such an IC card reader with a fastening mechanism which attaches a card holder detachably to a data reading table and a card holder configured to establish detachable installation on an IC card reader.
2. Background Art
Contaceless IC cards are now being employed in various applications for establishing radio communication with an IC card reader. For instance, the IC card may be used to check whether a card user is an authorized person or not when entering a security room. The user passes the IC card nearby the IC card reader to input an ID code. The IC card may also be used in checking whether the card user is a person authorized to use a personal computer or not. In this case, the user passes, like the above, the IC card nearby the IC card reader to input an ID code into the computer when starting it.
Further, the IC card may be used for access to security files stored in a personal computer many times or inputting a user ID code into a merchant computer system for making an electronic payment for a purchase during the on-line internet shopping at various web sites. In such a case, the user must pass the IC card over the IC card reader each time the ID code is required to be inputted to the computer. This is quite inconvenient for the user. In order to alleviate such an inconvenience, a card holder may be employed to hold the IC card on a data reading table of the IC card reader. A drawback is, however, encountered in that different types of card holders and IC card readers need to be prepared for meeting various application requirements.